Digging Up the Dirt On Viruses
Ben Lockhart's diagnoses keep gardeners' plants healthy

By Becky Beyers

When the garden plant you buy at the neighborhood greenhouse is healthy, thank Ben Lockhart.

Lockhart, 62, a native of the West Indies who’s been with the Department of Plant Pathology since 1971, is known worldwide for his research on plant diseases. Last fall, he was named a fellow of the American Phytopathological Society.

Ben Lockhart

Lockhart believes that while basic science research is important, part of the University of Minnesota’s role, especially in CFANS, is being accessible to citizens and providing practical solutions to problems faced by consumers and businesses.

While much of his earlier career focused on vegetable and food crops – he spent 10 years in Morocco working on viruses affecting local agriculture – his recent research has dealt with viruses that can affect ornamental plants. He says his interests changed because of the growing size of the ornamental-plant industry; because so many new plants are being introduced; and because the ornamental-plant industry has gone global. Plants being imported and exported around the world can bring with them a variety of diseases and pests.

His research uses electron microscopy to search for all possible viruses, not just those that have been previously identified. Last year, for example, he found five new viruses that can affect roses. None of the viruses are life-threatening – Lockhart says most wouldn’t even be visible to the average gardener – but they were the first new rose viruses identified in decades. Most other pathologists were looking only for the known viruses, not for new ones. He’ll talk about rose viruses this summer at the American Rose Society’s national convention, which is in St. Paul.

Technology has made a big difference in his work. “It’s so exciting, I can’t wait to come to work every day,” he says. Where identifying a virus in the pre-database era could be a laborious process taking months, now a new virus can be identified in a matter of a few days. The rapid spread of news on the Internet means Lockhart now gets e-mails from gardeners around the world who have read about one of his discoveries and need help with their sickly plants. He’s happy to offer advice, often going out to local gardens to get a firsthand look.

“The process of exploration is what’s exciting,” he says. “Too many people look for instant gratification in science. To me, it’s like a big jigsaw puzzle and your job as a scientist is to put in one piece. You do it well enough so that people can depend on it.”